Director: Robert McKimson
Story: Warren Foster
Animation: Cal Dalton, Don Williams, Richard Bickenback
Backgrounds: Richard H Thomas
Musical Director: Carl W Stalling
Date of release: 20th April 1946

The second Warner Bros. short feature directed by Robert McKimson is less impressive than the first. This weakly plotted cartoon, seems little more than an attempt to cash in on the success of the Warner Bros, film Hollywood Canteen made in 1944. While there are one or two interesting gags the lack of a central protagonist is a real problem. Even the original movie had a leading man and lady. The cartoon opens when a meeting of a group of dogs owned by famous movie stars decide to organise a nightclub to entertain the members of the Army K-9 Corps. The dogs all bear a resemblance to their celebrity owners, who include Edward G. Robinson, Jimmy Durante, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Jerry Colonna (featured yesterday in Daffy Doodles), Carmen Miranda, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Abbott & Costello and Laurel & Hardy. The music is provided by Kings of Swing “Hairy” James, “Boney” Goodman, Tommy “Dorgy”, Lionel “Hambone” and “Kaynine” Kyser (answers.com).

The cartoon has dated badly because so few of the “stars” depicted here are remembered today. Even those names I did recognise were often difficult to recognise because they are depicted here as period caricatures. The barely recognisable Frank Sinatra depicted in a sing off with Bing Crosby is an example.

I noticed in a sequence featuring Abbot & Costello’s pooches. The Lou Costello dog calls his partner “Babbit” Interesting because Warner Bros were at this time developing the cartoon double act Babbit and Catstello. A spoof version of the Hollywood double act. They starred in three Warner Bros. cartoons from 1942 to 1946. See “A Tale of Two Kitties“.

We see pooch versions of Laurel and Hardy repeatedly cleaning the same plate, over and over again. Ollie washes it, Stan, dries it and put is on the wrong end of the sink so that it slides back into the suds, where Ollie cleans it again. Very faithful to the original characters. For me, a favourite moment.

There is an extended orchestra scene where the conductor “Bowowski” is seen conducting with both a bone and a baton in the same sequence. There are a number of weak gags involving various pooches playing either instruments that look like themselves or appear to be in complete contrast.

We see an example of the classic cartoon cliche of a character hiding or appearing from behind an object much smaller or thinner than themselves. The skinny “Sinatra” appears from behind the skinniest palm tree ever singing “Down Where the Trade Winds Play”. Not very funny.

There are more moments of rather dull inanity, often involving, physical appearance jokes, such as fat dogs, dogs with lots of hair or stupid dogs. The cartoon is interesting as a study of 1940s American celebrity but not a feature I can say I’m glad I’ve seen. Even the “Jimmy Durante” hound who closes the feature with his catchphrase “That’s my boy who said that” seems to be laying the blame on somebody else.

Director: Bob Clampett
Story: Warren Foster
Animation: Robert McKimson, Manny Gould, Rod Scribner, Basil Davidovich
Layout and Backgrounds: Thomas McKimson and Michael Sasanoff
Effects Animation: A.C Gamer
Voice Characterisation: Mel Blanc
Musical Director: Carl W Stalling
Cast: Colonel and Snucks, Tweety Pie, Butch the bulldog.
Date of release: June 9, 1945

We start the feature with a parallax of the feline equivalent of “Lover’s Lane” with the static silhouettes of embracing cats in the foreground – lovely.

Two tom cats are in the midst of wooing the same white tabby. The first is a ginger caricature of the famous vaudeville comedian Jimmy Durante named “Colonel” by another more stupid yellow tom cat who is in turn is called “Snucks”.

The two love rivals ends up coming to blows, the characters are excellent and they are very much the stars of this feature. Colonel and Snucks are told by the tabby that the cat who brings her a bird will be her “fella”. Much charging, blunderbuss firing ensued. In one sequence the Colonel and Snucks are at the starting line of their bird quest, during the count, Colonel ties a heavy weight to Snucks’ tail, the ricochet send Snucks flying at such a speed he is reduced to liquid in the tin bath that Colonel kindly hold up to receive him. The unfortunate tom is then poured out onto the ground where he miraculously coalesces again.

Finally the cats climb opposite sides of a telephone pole and meet Tweety and each other at the top. The two cats end up falling and there is an interesting shot where the cats are seen falling to the ground like wheeling aircraft spiraling down. The scenerary painting is beautiful. “Bombs Away!” yells Tweety.

For me the highlight of this really good cartoon is an extended sequence where Colonel and Snucks are disguised as a pink pantomime horse. Quite why they would think that this disguise would help them capture the illusive Tweety isn’t very clear but the scene is hilarious and very well animated. All the bagginess and stretchiness of the costume are played to the full. Tweety slaps a wasp until it becomes furious and then drops it into the back end. The William Tell Overture from the Lone Ranger starts playing and we see Tweety Pie, complete with white hat and mask, riding the horse and yelling “Hi Ho Silver Away!” – Finally Tweety beats Butch to a furious temper and sets him on the cats. Still wrapped up inside the pantomime horse costume.

He repeats the same unlikely catch phrase from “Birdy and the Beast”

“You know, I lose more putty tats dat way!”

A couple of interesting points about this cartoon. It was the last time that Tweety is seen as pink. Although the title card from “Birdy and the Beast” shows him as yellow, it isn’t until the next feature that Tweety finally arrives in the guise we all recognise today. See my previous post “Tweetie Pie”

According to Wikipedia the cartoon was eventually censored because Colonel says “here comes that naked genius” (at 6’35”). Apparently, censors did not like the implied nudity.

Colonel and Snucks also appear to be Ren and Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi‘s inspiration for Stimpy. He combined the two cats in this short to create Stimpy.

This cartoon was animated by Robert McKimson and the layout and backgrounds are credited to his brother Thomas McKimson, there was a third brother, Charles, who also worked at Warner Brothers, so I think it’s only fitting that we explore their work in a little more detail. Starting with the eldest brother Robert’s premiere short, “Daffy Doodles“, released in 1946

Director: Bob Clampett
Story: Warren Foster
Voice Characterisation: Mel Blanc and Tedd Pierce
Musical Director: Carl W Stalling
Cast: Babbit and Catstello, Unnamed bird (proto Tweety Pie, nicknamed Orson by the staff)

This 1942 cartoon in notable for a number of reasons. It features peculiar cartoon cat versions of the popular comedy partnership of the day Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. Babbit and Catstello made a number of appearances in Warner Bros. cartoons, but never cut it as real stars. It also features the first screen appearance of the unnamed character who would eventually become Tweety Pie and features a couple a belting sequences, made famous by Who Framed Roger Rabbit. According to Wikipedia Tale of Two Kitties it is one of many a.a.p.-owned cartoons to fall in the public domain, as United Artists did not renew the copyright in time. I’m betting there’s a connection.

The first sequence that caught my eye was Babbit trying to push the reluctant Catstello up a ladder to catch Tweety, there’s a charm about these precious seconds that would be difficult to capture with mocap and CGI. A lovely example of the animators craft.  Struggling up ladder claiming no desire to harm the bird, Catstello is “motivated” with a pin, there is a protracted ladder sequence with all kinds of funny business ensuing, including breaking rungs, stilts and balance gags. The short features a number of references that would have been familiar with the audience of the day, but are no longer clear. Babbit shouts up the lady “Give me the Bird!”, Catstello slyly remarks to camera the “If the Hayes Office would only let me I’d give him the bird alright.” The Hayes office were the guardians of taste and censorship in America during this period. A popular target for jokes.

I noticed a nice gag where Babbit forces Catstello into a small box. Catstello pleads and begs not to be locked inside the box. Finally when he is trapped Babbit releases him like a Jack-in-the-box and Catstello flies into the air on springs in an bid to capture the tiny bird.  The spring sequence shows Catstello bouncing up the the rim of Tweety’s next and disappearing down again, bouncing back and forth one swipe after another. Tweety is a baby bird pink colour in this feature but he is unmistakable. Mel Blanc‘s voice characterisation is fully formed and the character is exactly the same. That wonderful mixture of cute and psychotic. The first thing he says to camera is “I taught I taw a putty cat.” as Catstello disappears again. With each reappearance of the tubby cat Tweety delivers a punishment, a baseball bat, Catstello returns with a tin Air raid helmet and cigar (like Winston Churchill), Tweety removes the hat and beats the cat again, this quickfire exchange of one-up-manship includes a divers helmet a bird cage and a large stick of dynamite. So many of the Looney Tune signature jokes are included in this cartoon, probably more so than any of the later features we’ve looked at so far this year. The sequence ends when Catstello doesn’t return after the final stick of dynamite. Tweety squeaks “Oh the poor little putty cat, he cwushed his poor wittle head.” followed by the widest grin possible for a character so small.

Catstello ends up in one scene on a telegraph wire, holding on with three fingers; Tweety does the famous gag. “This widdy piddy went to market, dis widdy piddy stayed home, did widdy piddy had woast beef. Well wadda you know. I wan out piddys.” This was re-played with Eddie Valiant in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

In one sequence Catstello finds himself falling and Tweety shows some compassion for the cat by throwing him a rope, with an anvil tied to the end. When Catstello hits the ground, all the background and scenery is dragged into the hole along with it. Classic!

The penultimate sequence really sets the period. Catstello takes to the air with planks for wings and thanks to Tweety is chased by searchlights and anti-aircraft fire like the London Blitz which ended the year before.

The final scene-closer shows the two cats creep up of the tin-hat wearing air warden tweet and begin a terrifying snarling pounce. Tweety turns and with a voice as big as a mountain screams “Turn out those lights!” Babbit and Catstello shrink back in fear and their yellow eyes switch off to grey one by one like electric lights.

Director: I. Freleng
Story: Michael Maltese, Tedd Pierce
Animation: Manuel Perez, Ken Champin, Virgil Ross, Gerry Chiniquy
Layouts: Hawley Pratt
Backgrounds: Philip De Guard
Effects Animation: A.C. Gamer
Voice Characterisation: Mel Blanc
Musical Director: Carl Stalling
Cast: Bugs Bunny, Cecil Turtle

The cartoon opens with Bugs having a sauna at the what looks like the Geysers in Yellowstone park. His ears are wrapped in towels and he is reading a book of fables while munching a carrot. He reads allowed a passage that reads “..with the result that the tortoise beats the hare” he turn a page and continues reading, then stops and turns back about 7 pages to re-read the passage again. A continuity error that makes the sequence all the funnier. The set-up is quite similar to the original Tex Avery “Tortoise Beats Hare” because Bugs spits out his carrot and begins to rant and rave about how outrageous the suggestion is. Bugs asks “Who’d ever believe such a zany story?” and the familiar drawl of Cecil Turtle can be heard off-camera saying “err I would” Bugs turns to find Cecil also enjoying the steam. His head wrapped in towels and his shell, complete with a pressure gauge serving as a convenient steam box sauna.

It seems a shame that unlike “Tortoise Wins by a Hare“, this cartoon presumes that Bugs and Cecil have never met before so as a result, instead of feeling like another chapter in an ongoing feud it feels like an inferior re-hash of an old idea.

There are some delicious touches. The banter between Bugs and Cecil is brilliant. Especially the starting line where the two come clean about cheating. Bugs, throws out a pair of roller-skates concealed under his boxers robe. He in turn picks up the be-goggled and robes Cecil, turns him upside down and shakes out a pair of roller-skates, a wooden buggy, a cycle and a motorised scooter. When they finally crouch at the line, the familiar finger-walk line encroachment gag seen in Tortoise wins by a hair. Although in the countdown, “One for the money, two for the show, three to make ready and four to go!”, instead of Bugs, shouting “Go!” in the far distance, a telegram rider arrives on a moped a split second after Bugs has gone with a Telegram bearing a single word “GO!”

Then Cecil reveals his secret weapon, under his shell he carries a mean looking Jet Propulsion system under his shell. For me this is the best gag in the cartoon, Cecil runs in mid-air with the same old lolloping gait we’re used to be is carried along on the crest of a comet. When Bugs is passed there is a quick joke that you’d miss if you blinked. Bugs powers round a bend and instead of crossing a Toll bridge he swims over the river instead.

As if in answer to Bugs’ cheeky telegram at the starting line, another motorcycle courier arrives with a letter from Cecil, in Chicago! Bugs is incensed. He opens a letter to discover that it’s a Christmas Card, (the cartoon was released May 10, 1947, so nothing seasonally appropriate about this gag), Bugs spends a moment or two feeling guilty that he never sent anything to Cecil. He’s seized with a bright idea. The next scene we see Cecil in his bathing costume on the Beach with Shell cast aside another moped riding courier arrives with a Parcel containing Bugs who plants a wet kiss on Cecil astonished face.

Bugs managed to steal the jet propelled shell from Cecil’s back, Cecil steals in back when Bugs has a breakdown. Bugs hitches a lift a cooks a hot-dog in the fire from Cecil’s exhaust and pours a bucket of water into the engine. Cecil bails it out and speeds after the Rabbit. What follows is a classic cartoon gag. I’m sure it’s not the first time it was used. Bugs, extends the road markings off the road up-to the side of a thick tree trunk, he then paints an arch in the side of a tree. Instead of crashing into the trunk, Cecil speeds through as if the tunnel where real. When Bugs tries it, “CRASH!” I must thy to track down the original version of this gag.

All in all there doesn’t seem to be much going on in this cartoon aside from the brilliant Jet propelled tortoise shell. The title of this short is a seemingly meaningless pun on the phrase “Rapid Transit”. Not the best gag ever written. Given the effort that goes into a cartoon, it amazes me at how little time appears to go into titles. This 1947 feature, is the last of three appearances of Cecil Turtle and a neat ending it is too. Finally Bugs gets to win the race. Although he gets hauled off by Traffic Police for speeding as a result.

How about a chance of pace? I’m interested to track down more cartoons where Manuel Perez get’s a credit. Oddly I can’t find out anything about him. While all the other animators have a Wikipedia page or some biographical record, there’s virtually nothing about Manuel Perez. We know he worked on this picture, and “Baseball Bugs” in 1946. Let’s go back one picture to “Tweetie Pie” released only a week earlier than “Rabbit Transit”, it too was animated by the mysterious Manuel Perez, among others. In was also to first Warner Bros, cartoon to win an Academy Award.

Supervision: Robert Clampett
Animation: Bob McKimson, Rod Scribner
Story: Warren Foster
Musical Direction: Carl Stalling
Voice Characterisations: Mel Blanc
Starring: Bugs Bunny, Cecil Turtle

This 1943 cartoon is the sequel to the Warner Bros. Fred “Tex” Avery cartoon “Tortoise Beats Hare” from 1941.

The feature starts with silhouettes of Bugs and Cecil racing on the spot, I like the way we get into the action with silhouettes even before the credit have disappeared.

The race commentator adds a certain newsreel flashback quality to the race sequence. Everything up until we see Bugs watching the footage on a projector is lifted straight out of the original cartoon from two years earlier.

Boy is Bugs bitter in this cartoon. He looks more feral than I can ever remember him. We regularly see his molars and gums throughout the short, particularly in his monologue, where he swears he’ll “find out his secret if it’s the last thing I do…” the monologue is a long one. Around 30 seconds of ranting. Some lovely animation too.

Bugs dresses up as an old timer and visits Cecil at his home (which is in the truck of a tree). Cecil obligingly reveals his “secret” via a blueprint that shows how his shell acts as an airflow chassis. “Now take rabbits, they’re built all wrong for racing. Those ridiculous ears.” The animators help the audience to appreciate that Bugs is taking notes by having bugs periodically type away at a typewriter concealed under his voluminous fake beard. The typewriter carriage appears from under his disguise as Bugs reaches the end of each line. He hastily returns the carriage with a “ding!” and is even finally assisted by Cecil.

I couldn’t help but notice when Cecil goes inside his house and talks to his wife. That “Sweety-face” is playing Patience with a deck of cards, as Cecil tells her that another race with Bugs is on, she is moving cards around, and you can clearly see that all the cards are being laid in the correct positions.

“Danger a Twerp at Work”. A lovely matte painting of Bugs’ ramshackle pottering shed is revealed. Sparks fly from the chimney into the night sky to the beat of a hammer on an anvil. Bugs is wearing a home-made metal tortoise shell and is wearing a green swimming hat in an effort to make himself more streamlined.

We see the race being advertised on the cover Chicago Sunday Tribunk along with pictures of Cecil and Bugs, who proceed to argue like prize fighters from within their newspaper columns.

We are then introduced to a delightful gambling ring of rabbits with a diminutive leader, I was reminded of Clyde and the Anthill Mob from Hanna Barbera created 25 years later. They clearly have their money on Bugs to win, they sharpen their knives in readiness.

Phew what a set up! Sadly the race is a bit of an anti-climax. Aside from the delights of Cecil’s lolloping running style and the screwball jalopy music that accompanies him, I felt a desire to get it over with and skip to the end.

The gambling ring re-route the lines into the road and Bugs, now in his turtle suit is mistaken for Cecil. In a classic case of mistaken identify they pounce on him. Meanwhile Cecil has changed into a rabbit costume and is carried to victory by the hoods.

According to Wikipedia the ending, where the gambling ring shoots themselves after realising that they’ve been trying to sabotage Bugs throughout the cartoon has been cut from many TV prints of this cartoon. The edited version ends with an abrupt fake blackout immediately after the gambling ring members say “Eh, NOW he tells us!”.

All in all an enjoyable sequel to the superior original, which I confess to watching while researching this viewing. I’ll share my thought on “Tortoise Beats Hare” with you tomorrow.

Supervision: Fred Avery
Animation: Charles McKimson
Story: Dave Monahan
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling
Voice Characterisations: Mel Blanc (uncredited)
Starring: Bugs Bunny, Cecil Turtle

This is my favourite cartoon so far! Vastly superior to sequel “Tortoise Wins By a Hare“.

From the start, we know that this cartoon isn’t going to be run of the mill. Tex Avery’s anarchic wit, has Bugs Bunny pacing the credits, reading out the names of the crew (incorrectly) while sardonically munching a carrot. Finally he reads the title “Tortoise Beats Hare”, spits out his carrot and flies into a rage. “…these screwy guys don’t know what they’re talking about.” Bugs rips the credits off the screen to reveal the tree trunk home of Cecil Turtle.  “Where’s that toitle? Let me at ‘im! I’ll shown ‘im!”

Bugs hammers on the door. We expect a fight. When we discover that the object of Bugs’ enormous rage is in fact a tiny, gentle and self effacing tortoise named Cecil it’s hard not to laugh. When Bugs tries to pick up Cecil, so that they can talk eye to eye, he find himself talking to a shell, while Cecil stands bashful, in his red spotted boxer shorts. We can only imagine how an audience in 1941 would have reacted. Fantastic!

There’s some great sound effects when Bugs sticks his head into Cecil’s shell and Mel Blanc’s voice is put through some kind of a compression. Blanc isn’t credited on this story, and it wasn’t until 1944, three years later that his contract stipulated a credit reading “Voice characterization by Mel Blanc.” Blanc asked for and received this screen credit from studio boss Leon Schlesinger when Leon objected to giving Blanc a raise in pay. (Wikipedia)

The gauntlet is thrown down and Bugs bets Cecil $10 that he’ll beat the tortoise in a race.

Bugs speeds off at the starting line and Cecil amiably trots off with a lolloping soundtrack only to head for the nearest phone (courtesy of the Bell Turtlephone Co.) and ring all his brothers / friends. This sequence is filled with gentle humour as we are introduced to Chester and in turn the other members of Cecil’s clan, who are depicted as very different characters, one is seen fishing when the phone rings, another is interrupted while having a bath. They all charge off to take their places in the scheme.

During the race we are treated to some wonderful backgrounds from an uncredited artist. Tex Avery‘s cartoons at Warner Bros. can be noted for their lush backgrounds. Avery started as a background artist before become a storyboard artist for Walter Lanz so maybe he always had a soft spot for this discipline?

There is a delicious pause when Bugs passed the tortoise for the second time, he stops, looks round, races up to Cecil and gawps at him for about three seconds before leaping back in horror. Brave and very funny, the race is the jewel in the centre of this cartoon is a protracted gag that has Bugs building a barricade only to find Cecil absently watching him, ahead again, Bugs races off, cuts a rope bridge and scampers up a tall tree to look for the tortoise, only to be kissed on the chops by the Cecil look-a-like who is sitting on the crown.

Finally Bugs crosses the line, Mel Blanc delivers the half-crazed-with-relief laughter of Bugs’ victory brilliantly. We know what’s going to happen next but it doesn’t make it any less funny when we finally see Cecil sitting calmly under the shade of a tree. Bugs hurls “abuse” at Cecil calling him a “Blankety Blank Blank Toitle” and pays up the $10.

When the penny drops and Bugs asks himself “I wonder if I’ve been tricked?” he turns to hear the entire Cecil Turtle clan, each of them clutching a $1 bill, say in unison “Er it’s a possibility” and simultaneously plant a huge kiss on Bugs’ astonished face.

The real star of the show is Bugs Bunny, Mel Blanc’s voice work is brilliant on a great script, coupled with some inspired timing and animated reactions from Bugs. Cecil Turtle is an absolute joy, given that Cecil only made three appearances on screen, it seems logical that tomorrow, we visit his final outing in Friz Freleng‘s cartoon, Rabbit Transit, released in 1947

Story: Warren Foster
Director: Robert McKimson
Animation: Charles McKimson, Manny Gould, John Carey
Layouts: Cornett Wood
Backgrounds: Richard H. Thomas
Voice Characterisations: Mel Blanc
Musical Direction: Carl Stalling

This short made in 1948 owes much to the Tarzan movies so popular at this period. Incidentally Tarzan himself even makes a brief appearance at a jungle vine intersection. It features three main characters all voiced by Blanc. Gruesome Gorilla, his broody wife (Mrs. Gruesome Gorilla) and the shipwrecked Bugs Bunny, object of her affection.

We first encounter Bugs singing from the interior of a floating barrel, bobbing on the ocean. I was reminded of the four Marx Brothers stowing away on an ocean liner inside herring barrels singing “Sweet Adeline” in “Monkey Business” (1931).

On the island of ‘Bingzi-Bangzi – Land of the Ferocious Apes’ we meet a community of Gorillas reading books with corny titles like “Apes of Wrath” and “Our Vines have Tender Apes” and Gruesome Gorilla and his broody wife.

Mrs. Gruesome Gorilla wants a child, “Why hasn’t the stork ever visited us Gruesome?” Gruesome Gorilla is having none of it!

A forlorn Mrs Gruesome Gorilla finds Bugs as he floats by in the barrel and adopts him. Bugs goes along with the adoption because “That’s my soft spot – dames crying.” he end up wearing a baby suit throughout, I suppose the ribbons and the bonnet helped with the vine swinging animations but for me the Bugs character was slightly lost as a result.

Gruesome Gorilla takes “junior out for a little walk” and is clearly out to do Bugs a mischief. A protracted chase and fight sequence ensues. It seems that the entire premise of the cartoon was an excuse to animate characters swinging on vines. Sadly that’s about all we get by the end.

Richard H. Thomas’ backgrounds are fantastic, lush and detailed with lots of depth and distance. The animators seem to work to this strength in his artwork, because there are a number of really effective vine swing sequences where the characters either disappear off into the distance or come right into the foreground, giving the world of “Bingzi-Bangzi” a tangible realism.

I’m fond of the sequence where Bugs the baby is thrown into the air “Ehh, this kid don’t know his own strength” as Bugs flails about, the sky background moves downwards giving the impression that Bugs is moving upwards, it would have been easy enough the send the background in the opposite direction to simulate the fall and allow Bugs to continue flailing, but the baby’s bonnet rises with the wind giving the sequence an extra charm and realism.

There is a rather poorly timed dance sequence about five minutes in, where Bugs kicks a coconut tree at the end of each line of the song, culminating in a predictable coconut concussion. This momentary lapse of quality is saved by a terrific chase sequence through the jungle with distance to foreground vine swinging, and a lovely shot in silhouette where multiple silhouettes of Bugs and Gruesome are seen teaming over a tree landscape silhouette, to represent their frenzied chase.

Unfortunately this successful scene is thrown away by a poor ending. Bugs is victorious as he blows on the exhausted Gruesome who falls over defeated.

Like Gruesome Gorilla the cartoon runs out of steam. I was left feeling unsatisfied and caring very little about any of the characters. Thanks to Richard H. Thomas and his lovely backgrounds the team had created such a believable little world populated by great characters but the weak plot made it all seem like a waste of time.

Director: Tex Avery
Producer: Fred Quimby (Uncredited)
Animation: Ray Abrams, Preston Blair, Ed Love
Music: Scott Bradley

Following yesterday’s baseball cartoon, we travel back in time 2 years to 1944. According to Wikipedia this Tex Avery MGM short served as a bit of a blueprint for “Baseball Bugs” in 1946; while there are some clear similarities this cartoon suffers from the lack of a central protagonist and is ultimately less engaging.
It’s essentially a series of surreal and risqué visual and verbal gags, vintage Tex Avery.

The toon stands out for a couple of interesting features. Apparently this is the only time an MGM feature ever started without the lion roar. We see a brief title with the name of the feature and Tex Avery’s name then go straight into a baseball game. One of the baseball players stops in mid air during a home-run to interrupt the narrator “Hey wait a second, didn’t you forget something? Who made this picture? How about the MGM titles, the lion roar and all that kind of stuff?”
The narrator apologises and we see the lion and the full credits. Followed by a declaimer, a shot of the baseball ground bearing the gag-name of “W.C. Field” and a subtitle that claims: “The Guy who thought of this corny gag – isn’t with us anymore.”

As always, there is a rich fluidity in Tex Avery’s animation.

We appear to be in a world inhabited entirely by dogs. The players and the crowd, all sport canine noses and ears.

There is a cracking gag early on
Announcer: Here comes a long one. It’s going… going… going…
[ball hits a billboard of a red-haired woman’s face, with the advertising catch line of “Use Toothodent – with Delirium. The Smile of Glamour” knocking out one of her teeth]
Announcer: …gone!
A much funnier joke than the later Baseball Bugs tobacco ad gag.

One of the few named players, McGrip, reveals that he has a rifle sight built into his shoe, before launching a ball directly between the eyes of his opponent. I love that not only has the animator keenly observed the lifted foot of the pitcher but they have given it a further twist of emphasis by adding the rifle sight for comic effect.

McGrip show us a few of his famous pitches. Such as McGrip’s famous “spit ball”, which really spits! The fast ball which proves so effective it reduces his bruiser of an opponent to a screaming baby and his “beautiful curve” which actually draws a sexy silhouette in the air, at which the male crowd wolf-whistles rapturously.

There is a heckler in the crowd baying for the umpire’s blood, an idea neatly appropriated for the Bugs Bunny character in Baseball Bugs, although this particular heckler actually gets his wish as a gunshot rings out and sends him from bright red to an rueful shade of guilty blue.

There is a lovely bit of animation where one of the pitchers throws an iron ball, we see him convincingly struggle with the heavy weight before hurling it down the field. The aftershock of the hitters contact is contagious and spreads back to the gloating McGrip to great effect.

A couple of dolly girls warm up the new hitter by body heat! Very risqué!

The end of the film is unusually downbeat when a catcher who continually gets in the way of the hitter, finally gets clobbered. He see him forlornly ascending into heaven with a placard that reads “Sad ending isn’t it?”

All in all this cartoon, has some interesting moments, but fails to deliver on storyline. Admittedly it’s a quality series of animated baseball gags, but without a protagonist it lacks the momentum and the narrative drive to make it as entertaining as the Warner Bros. 1946 version, “Baseball Bugs“.

Director: Charles M Jones
Story: Michael Maltese
Animation: Ben Washam, Lloyd Vaughan, Ken Harris
Layouts: Maurice Noble
Backgrounds: Philip De Guard
Voice Characterisation: Mel Blanc
Musical Director: Carl W Stalling
Cast: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd
Date of release: February 28, 1953

This superb animation opens to medieval titles and Daffy Duck resplendent in Cavalier costume leaping onto the screen wielding a sword. Almost immediately he parries forwards into an empty space as the background hasn’t been drawn. What ensues, pushes the boundaries of what can be done with a short cartoon to the limit. Chuck Jones and his team create one of the all time greatest animated cartoons.

Essentially the entire short is a dialogue between Daffy and the unseen animator. Who rubs, out, draws and paints right onto the screen, infuriating, taunting and generally torturing the hapless Daffy.

The short is packed with scene changes and Daffy is brought to breaking point before our eyes as he is transformed into a variety of caricatures one by one before our eyes. A farmer, winter skier, Hawaiian Dancer, Cowboy, a marooned Sailor where Daffy utters the immortal phrase “Thanks for the sour persimmons, cousin!” (Chuck Jones later credited this line to animator Ben Washam) and a fighter pilot. Daffy is painted in bright colours, rubbed out and transformed into a frog footed, flower headed “Screw Ball” creature.
He wrestles with the black border of the cartoon and the premature closing fanfare and the contracting iris normally reserved for “The End” of a movie. In one scene he even fights with himself from a previous frame of the movie.

Finally as a “buzz boy” in an aeroplane he is forced to crash into a hastily drawn mountain and have his parachute replaced with the ubiquitous anvil. He finds himself beating himself over the head with a hammer in a surreal landscape where the only road is seen zig-zagging impossibly in the distance. The animator draws a huge artillery shell under his failing hammer’s trajectory causing Daffy to be reduced to a sooted shadow of his former self. A furious Daffy calls for an explanation, “enough is enough” he screams as the animator draws a door and closes it in Daffy’s face.

Finally the camera pulls back to reveal that the animator is none other than Bugs Bunny. “Ain’t I a stinker” he giggles.

Chuck Jones claimed that the ending was just a gag and the point of the cartoon was to explorer how far you could stretch the character and still recognise it as Daffy Duck. It’s a hilarious masterpiece, full of exquisite animation and more flourishes of animator talent than an entire season of most animated cartoon’s made today.

In 1994, this cartoon was voted #2 of The 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.

In 1999 it become only the second short animated film to be deemed “culturally significant” by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Director: I. Freleng
Story: Michael Maltese, Tedd Pierce
Animation: Manuel Perez, Ken Champin, Virgil Ross, Gerry Chiniquy, Don Towsley
Layouts: Hawley Pratt
Backgrounds: Hawley Pratt
Voice Characterisation: Mel Blanc and Bea Benaderet
Musical Director: Carl Stalling
Cast: Thomas (Sylvester in Character), Tweety Pie

Wow! What a fantastic cartoon. The characters of Sylvester (called Thomas here but henceforth called Sylvester for this post) and Tweety Pie are delightful. It’s no wonder that this one Warner Bros. their first Academy Award. This cartoon was re-released in the 1950s as a “Blue Ribbon” release, with all titles and credits replaced. Thanks to Wikipedia for the credits listed above.

The story opens on an areal view of a pretty suburban home in a deep blanket of snow, there is a a snowman in the garden, and as we zoom in closer we see the tiny figure of Tweety Pie warming himself on a discarded cigar butt. Suddenly the snowman has eyes, Sylvester emerged from beneath the snowman’s top hat, taking it with him, and sidles over to a box of tennis racket that he uses as snowshoes. He stalks up to Tweety who, delivers his immortal catch-phrase “I tought I tor a putty cat.” Note the earlier Bugs cartoon “Hare Force” also starts with a snow scene, but is much much colder. This clearly adds emphasis to the central function of the snow, to be very cold. The snow in “Tweetie Pie” is altogether much warmer stuff, the extra emphasis is not required here because we never go outside again.

Sylvester’s unseen female owner rescues Tweety from the cat. There is a lovely moment where Sylvester hides the bird behind his back in is asked by the woman to show each of his paws in turn. When the second hand is revealed as empty is transpires that Sylvester has used his tail to secure his trophy. The owner retrieves and pets Tweety, and reprimands Sylvester. Tweety is a piece of work. Purely from an animation point of view, I actually think Tweety is the funniest Warner Bros. cartoon characters ever created. His range of expressions is both cute and crafty. A combination of sickeningly sweet and brutal calculation. As Tweety’s new owner pets the bird, his expression of smug appreciation is hilarious!

When asked to kiss the bird, Sylvester can’t resist closing his mouth around the bird with a snap and is beaten.

Tweety is now safely tucked away inside his new cage. Swinging happily in his new home. Sylvester, still unpopular with his mistress reminding him angrily “No tricks!” However as soon as her back is turned, Sylvester piles the furniture and just as he gets up to Tweety’s cage, he discovers it is empty. He hears sawing from below and looks down to see Tweety sawing through the table leg far below. Everything comes crashing down and the lady owners high heels are seen stomping down stairs. Sylvester, hastily rearranges the room and feigns sleep on the rug. He’s rumbled by his owner and beaten with a broom!

The next scene Sylvester tries it again with metal legged furniture only to find Tweety with an oxy-asthetaline blow torch and visor cutting through the metal. The cat ends up getting beaten again.

Sylvester tries using a desk fan to carry him up to the empty cage. He looks down and sees Tweety by the plug-socket. There is a beautiful silent exchange between the two where Sylvester appeals to the merciless Tweety for clemency. Crash!

Essentially the Cat wants to eat the bird, a simple premise, full of great visual gags. The Oscar winning scene for me is the construction and deployment of a fantastic W Heath Robinson contraption involving a toaster, an ironing board, a cuckoo clock and a bowling ball! Crash!

The final straw for Sylvester is a Buster Keaton style gag that shows Sylvester sawing a ring in the ceiling around the hook from which the bird cage is swinging. Unfortunately it appears that the entire ceiling is support by a joist directly above the bird cage. Crash!

So it is that the luckless Sylvester breaks up his mistresses broom and burns it only to be beaten on last time with a metal coal pan.

Brilliant! Let’s visit the first ever Tweety Pie cartoon tomorrow. “A Tale of Two Kitties” from 1942